Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

It’s a story of hardship and optimism that has never ceased to move us, but which has taken on a particular resonance in these difficult times: The Diary of Anne Frank. We’ll talk about the story of its original publication, take a look at some early editions, and think about the lessons this book can impart to us in our own moment of crisis and isolation. Plus, do you have a fascinating item at home that you’d like to hear virtually appraised on the podcast? We’re welcoming submissions from listeners; please contact the shop at [email protected].

A collection of French fashion magazines from the 1920's sends us off into an exploration of fashion magazines in general. They contain a lot of good outfit ideas, sure, and some have gorgeous illustrations, but they’re also a fascinating record of everyday life. The history of hemlines and purses can also be read as a history of women’s freedom and independence. Echos of the most outlandish haute couture design eventually percolate down through the culture into the clothing pages of the Sears & Roebuck catalog. All men wear hats everyday, until one day they don’t. Join us for a stroll down the runway and into history in this very snappy #brattlecast.

Like it or not, we’re living through a fairly dramatic historic event. What kinds of documents and ephemera being generated today will be of interest to future collectors and historians as they try to parse the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the lives of everyday people? In a time when so many of us get our news from twitter, what physical artifacts might remain to remind us of these troubling and unprecedented weeks? Also, we remind you to please feel free to email or call the shop—Ken is there looking after things, and staying connected is important to us while the shop is closed to the public.

On this special episode we talk about how Ken and the Brattle are coping with the Covid-19 crisis. It’s a situation now sadly familiar to most of us: uncertainty and dread, financial apprehension, the feeling that one had strayed into an episode of The Twilight Zone. But, although the shop is temporarily closed to the public, and the city of Boston feels eerily deserted, we find some cause for optimism: the Brattle has weathered many calamities over its long history. For now, all we can do is stay healthy, be patient, and, sometimes, escape into the pages of a good book.

Like many of us, Ken is spending some time doing some long-delayed housekeeping and organizing: finding things he’d forgotten he has, and things he thought he’d lost. But, unlike many of us, he’s tidying up a basement in which 40 years of boxes containing possibly rare books have accumulated. We’ll talk about some of the treasures he’s unearthed during his Covid cleanup, and about his hopes for his most frequent customers: now that they’ve been forced to stop shopping for books, maybe they can stay home and read some of the books they already have.

It’s a macabre but fascinating area of American history: presidential assassinations. In this episode we’ll focus on a recently acquired collection of old newspapers covering these tragic dramas, from the gunshots and presidential demise, to the arrest and execution of the assassin, to the funeral procession, public mourning, and political aftermath. Especially interesting is the way that contemporary newspaper coverage occasionally differs from our received historical accounts of these events, and the way that violent national traumas can crystallize over time into a sort of half-true American mythology.

It almost sounds like a joke: a braille Playboy. Although the magazine is arguably most famous for its photography, it also publishes serious literature, journalism, and interviews. In the 1970’s, when the Library of Congress began translating magazines into braille, Playboy quickly became one of its most popular offerings. The braille edition contained no descriptions of Playboy’s photos, but it still featured enough explicit romantic advice and off-color humor to earn the ire and censorship efforts of a handful of conservative congressmen, leading to a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of its vision impaired readers. All this fascinating history is here in the studio with us today, at a time when, poetically, the internet and new technologies are in the process of rendering both adult magazines and braille itself obsolete.

J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and, less famously but most importantly for our purposes, a charming letter to his publisher in which he attempts to answer questions from the public about himself and his work. On this episode, Ken reads from that letter, and talks about the chain of fascinating friendships that helped it find its way into his shop. Plus he’ll discuss the effect that the popular Peter Jackson films had on the collectability and value of Tolkien’s first editions.

On this episode Ken talks about the broad range of surprises that he’s experienced while book buying, apart from the books themselves. In his line of work, one day you’re drinking from Thomas Jefferson’s coffee service, and the next day you’re fumigating your work truck of fleas. The house that you’re visiting could contain a handful of Turner watercolors, or a roomful of live ammunition. It’s all part of the fun - as long as you don’t get blown up!

Little Golden Books are a series of inexpensive, durable, nicely illustrated children’s classics, which first premiered in 1942. Their remarkably consistent design inspires nostalgia in adults and a sense of ownership and accomplishment in younger readers. Join us for a closer look at this beloved series, and its many cultural tie-ins and cross promotions. You’ll hear all about favorites The Pokey Little Puppy, Roy Rogers, Bambi, and even the Campbell Soup Kids, on this solid gold #brattlecast.